Technology resources for COVID-19

Written by Kate McDonald on 16 March 2020.

Updated on May 29 Listed are some of the technological resources available to medical practices, allied health practices, pharmacies, hospitals, aged and community care during the coronavirus outbreak.

SARS CoV-2 testing

InterSystems is offering enhanced configurations in its TrakCare Lab Enterprise solution to support a variety of SARS CoV-2 tests and testing platforms. The solution now includes commonly used test items, test sets, specimens and containers, as well as instrumentation platform configuration.

SARS CoV-2 infection is detected using either polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or serological testing techniques. The precise genetic probe used now varies from testing kit to kit and, as such, there is no internationally recognised standard.

The new functionality allows users to implement these items out of the box and the company has also extended configuration to include interpretation rules on the individual test results to derive the final outcome of the screening or confirmatory testing procedure.

This capability is available within versions of TrakCare released in 2018 or later. The solution also enables mapping of the configured items to codes from one or more classification systems such as LOINC, SNOMED-CT and ICD using the Lab Enterprise classification reference and interface coding reference code tables.

This allows organisations to meet mandates for coding standardisation that can vary across geographies and time.

Athena Software has launched two new remote care solutions for its Penelope case management platform, including video session scheduling to simplify the client experience in requesting and managing video-enabled remote care sessions with their care providers.

Athena Software says Penelope customers can continue to deliver essential case management support services remotely while protecting the health of their staff and their clients during the pandemic.

The Canadian-headquartered company has also launched a new caregiver feature for its ClientConnect mobile client portal that works with Penelope. It enables an authorised caregiver or family member to access the mobile client portal on their client or loved one’s behalf.

To use video session scheduling, a client logs into ClientConnect and requests a live video session with their case worker or counsellor. The worker then creates a link using the video provider of the social service organisation’s choice and adds it as an appointment in Penelope.

The link is then displayed in the client’s account and accessed from their mobile device or desktop computer.

Athena says both of the enhancements are available at no charge to nonprofits and human service organisations in Australia and New Zealand already using Penelope and ClientConnect.

IT services company Interactive has partnered with Microsoft, Carbon Black, SOC Prime and Qualys to raise awareness of cybercrime activity that may be putting the healthcare system at risk during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Staff deployed to work from home are more vulnerable to cyber security threats as they don't have the protection of corporate network infrastructure and security teams. The Interactive partnership is offering all healthcare organisations in Australia COVID-19 phishing alerts for organisations using the Microsoft Office 365 suite, for free for 90 days from March 31.

The offer includes threat hunting to detect any indications of compromise and vulnerability assessment of Azure infrastructure to identify weaknesses, via the Qualys platform, along with endpoint detection and response tools deployment to critical assets in Microsoft Azure, via the Carbon Black Cloud platform.

For organisations with their own security operations centre, cyber security personnel or a security information and event management (SIEM) platform, the partnership is offering API access for 60 days for automated ingest of rules into the platform of choice and four one-hour remote consulting sessions to assist in rule or detection deployment and configuration.

Telstra Health has developed a new assessment form to enable the early capture of information related to COVID-19 surveillance and monitoring for residential aged care providers. Available in Telstra Health’s Clinical and Care Management software, the assessment form was developed to help providers to monitor and document potential and active COVID-19 cases within their facilities.

The acute respiratory illness surveillance and monitoring form has been developed in line with the Communicable Diseases Network Australia (CDNA) guidelines and in consultation with aged care providers. Released two weeks ago, it is now being used by 40 clients.

Once uploaded into the client’s environment, providers can access the form within Clinical and Care Management along with their suite of standard forms. It allows them to view a report containing all residents for which the form has been completed. Staff can then filter the report by fields such as whether the COVID-19 diagnosis is suspected or confirmed, how the virus was transmitted, or the clinical treatment required.

Providers can also choose to link the new assessment form to their current infection report to provide a prompt to complete the infection report once the COVID-19 assessment is finalised. Staff can also create a dashboard report on the homepage to easily view how many current infections are present within the facility; whether it be COVID-19, influenza, or gastroenteritis.

The reporting components also enable providers to drill into relevant data so they can easily report to their local Public Health Authority if they have a confirmed case. A new diagnosis field will also be introduced to the software in the coming weeks.

The Australian Digital Health Agency has launched a new website providing advice to consumers on how to navigate the health system using digital tools during the pandemic.

The guide explains what to do if an individual or a family member has COVID-19 symptoms, needs medication unrelated to COVID-19, is sick or injured with symptoms unrelated to COVID-19, is seeking emotional support or general information on how to stay healthy as restrictions are eased.

The guide also explains how patients can update their online health information including allergies, medicines and how to access their pathology and diagnostic imaging results,as well as to book a telehealth consultation and get medications without a paper prescription.